DIY projects for parents and kids, plus cool toys to discover

April 20, 2012

The mind boggles with design possibilities when gazing upon the fun, easy-to-make DIY Felt Rosette. Attach one or more to a sweater, or shoes, or a denim jacket or a throw pillow or picture frames or a hat! Rosettes turn ordinary objects into luxe objects with just a few stitches.

Follow this tutorial to create rosettes in any color and size you like using the Crazy Craft Kit, scissors and a hot glue gun.

Choose a piece of felt from the Crazy Craft Kit and draw a spiral on it with a regular ball point pen. You'll have to use a silver sharpie on the dark colors. You can also wing it—just keep the line evenly parallel as you circle around. The size of the felt square will determine the size of your rosette.

Use your scissors to cut the spiral out. You'll end up with something like this:

This straight-edge style will get you a bud that looks like a felt peony. To make a felt rose, cut a curvy line on the spiral and you'll end up with wavy, rose-like petals.

Next, starting with the outer end, roll the felt up tightly, around and around, keeping your eye on what will be the center of the bud.

To secure the end, leave just the tip unrolled. While holding the rosette tightly, add a dollop of hot glue to seal it.

Before the glue cools, fold the unrolled tip over the bottom of the rosette and press into the hot glue. This gives the rosette a neat, closed end that is secure enough to attach to whatever you're decorating.

A good tip to keep in mind when you're arranging rosettes is alternating size. Make three smalls and two larges etc. Use a needle and thread to attach them to whatever you're decorating. You'll be able to hide the stitches underneath.

Now take your roses and peonies and run! Sew them to something, STAT! You'll soon be holding beautiful DIY rosettes that turn anything they touch to decorative gold.

March 22, 2012

This easy-to-follow tutorial will show you how to make DIY Tie Dye Eggs using special transferrable tissue paper. Simple enough for kids to get really creative, all you need is the Giant Activity Box and a few white eggs!

First things first. Get the kids and yourself in old clothes because this fun project is a messy one! You will get some tissue paper dye on your clothes, but it easily washes out and won't hurt little fingers because it's completely non-toxic.

First, prepare your tisue squares. Cut them into all shapes and sizes. Triangles and strips give you a lot of options.

Next, brush water over the egg.

Try to keep your fingers in the same place–at top and bottom–and turn the egg while you place layers of tissue on the egg's surface. Layer the lighter colors, like yellow, for more impact.

As you go along, brush the tissue with water and press gently to help it set. It will dry–and dye–quickly. After you've covered your egg in tissue, set it aside in the egg crate it came in and let it dry. The tissue pieces will peel off easily after they dry.

After you've peeled all the tissue paper off, you will have on your hands (besides a bit of dye!) a beautiful set of Easter eggs like you haven't had before.

March 12, 2012

These adorable DIY Spring Chick Cups are great for Spring birthday parties when they can be filled with party favors, or for collecting candy on Easter. All you need is the Giant Activity Box for kids and a medium-sized paper cup!

Our tutorial will show you how to put these clever Spring Chick Cups together in a few easy steps.

Your first step will be prepping the crepe paper. You’ll be gluing it to the cup to create chick feathers. Cut your crepe paper in half horizontally so you’re left with two long, skinny strips with ruffles on one side.

Your next step will be gluing the ruffled crepe paper to the cup. Start with coating the paper cup in glue by running a glue stick all over the cup.

Next, wrap the crepe paper around the cup. You’ll do this one strip at a time, beginning with the bottom strip.

Cut the crepe paper strip to just the right size, then press the strip into the glue gently. Repeat this process until you’ve glued strips all the way around the cup, covering it from bottom to top. You might want to reinforce the end of the crepe paper strip with one final dollop of glue.

This is how your Spring Chick Cup should look after gluing the crepe paper strips. You might want to ruffle the feathers of your cup to get this look!

Now you’ll be adding the distinctive characteristics of your Spring Chick! To make the beak, fold the orange squares from the Giant Activity Box in half, and then in half again.

Glue this triangle down below the first row of ruffled crepe paper. Hold your finger down on the triangle for a couple moments to set the glue.

Then, choose eyes from the Giant Activity Box, and stick them on the cup directly above the beak.

Next, you’ll add additional feathers to the baby chick by gluing them in place halfway down the cup on either side. You’ll want to angle the feather away from the face.

Finally, you’ll make the Spring Chick Cup handle.

Use a single-hole punch, or a sharp object like a pencil, to make holes on both sides of the cup, near the top. Poke your yellow pipe cleaner through the holes, leaving a little on the inside to twist up and around the handle to keep it in place.

Throw some brightly colored, shredded paper as stuffing into the cup and fill with candy.

February 24, 2012

We’ve created three adorable, yet easy DIY mini-cupcake designs that are perfect for corralling the kids into the kitchen for a new project. All it takes is the Babycakes Cupcake Maker from the Discovery Store, and creative topping ideas to fully engage their attention and get the family working together.

This tutorial will teach you how to make three cupcake designs: Baby Chick, Spring Grass and Little Lamb!

Supplies you’ll need:

• Chocolate chips

• Mini-marshmallows

• Shredded coconut

• Chocolate eggs and/or mini jelly beans like Jelly Belly brand

• Sticks of bubble gum

• Yellow and green food coloring

Use any batter you’d like in any flavor. We used a vanilla box mix. Spoon the batter into the Babycakes Cupcake Maker using a cookie scoop: it measures out the perfect amount. You want to be sure the batter does not overflow. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, a regular spoon will work. Parents: Be sure you don't let kids touch the Babycakes Cupcake Maker - it can get very hot. But little hands can help decorate!

Follow the directions on the Babycakes Cupcake Maker from Discovery and get cooking!

After your cupcakes are baked and cooling on a platter, you can get started preparing Baby Chick toppings. First, you’ll fill a baggie with shredded coconut and add a few drops of yellow food coloring. Mixing the food coloring into the coconut is a fun job for the kids. Hand them the baggie and ask them to mash it all up together. Every piece of coconut needs to be yellow!

Next, cut triangles out of the sticks of gum to make the Baby Chick’s mouth.

After spreading your favorite buttermilk frosting—or frosting from a can—place the yellow coconut on top of that. We recommend white frosting so you’ll have a basic background upon which to build your Baby Chick cupcake design.

Your final step for the Baby Chick cupcakes will be placing the chocolate chip eyes along with the bubble gum mouth! Push them into the frosting a bit so they stick.

CUTE!

Next up: Spring Grass Cupcake Design!

Make your green grass frosting by adding a couple drops of green food coloring to the frosting bag. Use the star tip for the desired effect. You’ll then squeeze out little grassy stars all over the surface of the cupcake.

Place your chocolate eggs or jelly bellies on top!

Last but not least: Little Lamb Cupcake Design

First, cut the mini marshmallows in half horizontally. These will become the lamb's wooly face.

Then you’ll spread a thin layer of frosting across the surface. Place your cut mini-marshmallows on top—you’ll make two rings of marshmallows to create the face.

Leave a space for two chocolate chip eyes, and a bubble gum nose. Cut the marshmallows in half vertically to make little lamb ears!

February 17, 2012

Get ready for Spring and Easter baking with this super-simple recipe for vanilla cream cheese frosting by Sophie and Katherine from DC Cupcakes. You can make this frosting with ingredients you probably already have in your house! Watch the instruction video, then scroll to get the recipe so you can make this delicious frosting the next time you have a craving for cupcakes.

DC Cupcakes Easy Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 stick unsalted butter

6 oz. cream cheese

4 c. sifted confectioner's sugar

1/4 t. vanilla extract

Directions:

Place butter and cream cheese into mixer bowl. Cream 1 minute on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar 1 c. at a time, mixing on medium speed, scraping down bowl between additions. Add vanilla, then beat on high speed 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy.

December 07, 2011

The new infant toy from Discovery's Toy Store is very promising. It looks like it's gonna take my 9-month-old daughter a few months to explore every nook and cranny, and stick every mouth-able part in her mouth.(She adores that big white button!) This is good. She seems to burn through toys really quickly. One day we sit down to play and she's just bored. I look at her and think, I don't blame you, sweetheart. We need a toy refresh!

Today Croco-Bloco arrived and I just knew my day was going to be a lot easier by the size of the box. More toy=more playtime!! After unwrapping, upon first sight (and sound), my daughter was rapt. What is this? I could picture the wheels running in her tiny brain. What…what is this? What does it DO?

I showed her each block and its special little noise-making functions first. She LOVES the corduroy blocks. She's very into texture and those don't disappoint—they've got crinkly paper underneath the corduroy! Genius. It's sound and texture in one move—she's hooked.

I have to admit, after I showed her the coolness of each block on its own, I started throwing them in the air. This really got her. We're talking GIGGLES. That's not actual Croco functionality, but, SHHHH, it works!

Little Miss has room to grow with Croco-bloco, that may be my favorite thing. She doesn't get all of his awesome tricks (cute baby dinosaur in a pouch!) YET, but she will and that is what I want in a toy. Croco is going to keep things easygoing during play time for quite a while. Ya-Hoo!

Remote control vehicles and helicopters top the hottest toys list this holiday season. It's no surprise that kids seek the fast action and fun movement of remote control cars, helicopters, airplanes and hovercrafts. Kids love having control over our wonderful assortment of these fast-moving, kid-directed vehicles and aircraft's.Watch them laugh as they explore how to move their toys with the power of a remote control. It's surprisingly entertaining!

Spread the joy this holiday season by getting your children remote control toys. Small or large, driving straight or in circles, remote control cars, helicopters and more lead to motorized mayhem!

“The Macro Microscope helps kids tap into their inner scientist by taking a close up look at the beauties and mysteries of the world with their very own microscope— and with the Discovery Illuminated Ant Farm Habitat, kids can experience a self-sustaining habitat while discovering the wonders of the ant world,” she adds. “Photo Story teaches kids how create a hard cover photobook with stickers, drawing tools, and paintable backgrounds, while the Discovery Kids Polymer Chemistry Set offers quick, fun experiments that can be performed and then stored in a traditional Erlenmeyer flask.”

“The Balancing Act” viewers ‘discovered’ that the Discovery Store is a value oriented shopping destination. They offer one of the largest selections of products for kids of all ages that are interactive, exciting, skill building, innovative, fun, unique and developmental.

About The Balancing Act“The Balancing Act” TV show is produced by O2 Media, Inc. and airs daily on Lifetime Television at 7:00am (ET/PT). “The Balancing Act” is America’s premier morning show that’s about women, for women and trusted by women. For information or to view a show, visit http://www.TheBalancingAct.com.

November 14, 2011

Unless you’re a mother, father, or a young boy yourself – you’ve probably realized it’s hard to know what to get boys. Trends and technologies are changing so quickly that it’s difficult for holiday shoppers to know what toys and games boys actually like these days.

Discovery Kids Toy Store has the hottest selection of toys and games for boys year after year, and this year is no different. We thought we’d share our top picks on the hottest 3 toys for boys by age group. Hopefully this short list will help you find the perfect gift for the boys on your shopping list.

July 27, 2011

This Sunday, the Discovery Channel will begin airing Shark Week 2011. During shark week, viewers are treated to nonstop "informative" documentary footage of sharks attacking seals, sharks attacking people, boats and anything else that happens to be in their way. Of course there is a lot more to Shark Week than shark attacks.

If watching Shark Week isn't much of a thrill, maybe it's time to consider a Discovery Shark Experiences. Discovery has partnered with Excitations, a premier gifting company offering unique life experiences as memory-making gifts, to offer Discovery Experiences – unforgettable gifts of exploration, excitement and fun. Discovery currently offers two Shark Experiences. Feeding Sharks and Swimming with Sharks.

About the Feeding Sharks Experience:Enjoy the thrill of feeding a tank full of sharks! Get a behind-the-scenes aquarium tour and help prep the sharks' food. Learn everything you ever wanted to know about caring for sharks – then strap on your harness and step onto the catwalk to go face-to-face with these hungry predators.

About the Swimming With Sharks Experience:Here's a dream come true for anyone fascinated with the most feared predator of the sea. Embark on a live shark dive in an aquarium exhibit and come face to face with a unique array of sharks and marine life.